Top Morgan Stanley Advisor Fined and Suspended
From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law
A prominent Morgan Stanley advisor has accepted a 45-day suspension and a $10,000 fine for unauthorized money transfers and using personal communication channels for business-related texts, according to a FINRA settlement letter known as an Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent (“AWC”).
AdvisorHub reports that Gregg W. Gravenstine, a 36-year industry veteran, transferred $24,109 from a customer's account to an account owned by the customer's father without proper authorization. Between February and November 2019, Gravenstine made ten such transfers, or “cash journals”, at the request of the customer's father, a longtime friend and client, despite lacking approval from the son. According to AdvisorHub, the son filed an arbitration complaint to dispute those transfers, and the father repaid the transferred amounts.
Additionally, from August 2020 to August 2021, Gravenstine sent around 700 business-related text messages from his personal cell phone to ten customers. This action violated Morgan Stanley’s policy against using unapproved communication channels and caused the firm to breach FINRA’s recordkeeping rules, as the messages were not recorded. Gravenstine’s actions also violated its catch-all Rule 2010, which requires advisors to adhere to “high standards of commercial honor.”
Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory, and disciplinary matters.
Tags: eccleston, eccleston law